Fear of continual legislation changes and the low caps on superannuation contributions are likely to result in restrained voluntary super payments in 2013, ClearView Wealth said.
ClearView Wealth managing director Simon Swanson said that this may see a rise in non-superannuation products, such as insurance bonds.
“In the superannuation industry, we will [also] see the emergence of lower cost products, including MySuper products. We will see if those products launched by retail manufacturers are able to penetrate the domain that has generally been the home of industry funds (ie. awards/defaults),” Mr Swanson told InvestorDaily.
He explained that legislative changes will continue to dominate the industry for most of the year, but we will also see the emergence of strategic opportunities for a number of industry participants.
“We will see continued distractions for the industry as we rush to implement system and other changes to deal with the legislative deadlines,” Mr Swanson said.
“The implementation of automated rollover exchanges as part of the superstream legislation will be a massive leap forward for the industry and will increase portability and lower industry costs,” he said.
ClearView Wealth also expects continued growth in life insurance, with large increases in the group risk market and the retail disability market.
“How consumers and advisers respond to these changes will be crucial to the industry. The outcome of the FSC deliberations on adviser remuneration (mainly clawback rules) is expected to reach a conclusion in 2013 and the key item to monitor is the view of the ACCC,” Mr Swanson said.
